Saturday, April 21, 2007

Last week, I received the following email from an old blogger, Mis-nagid:

R Chaim Haqoton,

Can you please transfer ownership of mis-nagid.blogspot.com to me? I know you've been a fair steward of it, not abusing or misusing it, but I'd feel better if I had control of it.

Thanks,Mis-nagid=========

At first, the following parable entered my head as to why I should not give him access to his old blog. Imagine a man had a idol which he not only used for idol worshiping, but also used to convince others to worship idols. Imagine if this idolater decided he does not want to use the idol anymore, so he left it outside for anyone to use. Now imagine that someone grabbed this idol and claimed that he stole it, making a huge kiddush hashem, and locked it away for two years so that no one else could ever use it. Now, imagine that two years later, the old idolater goes to this person and requests back his idol so that he can resume using it for his worship and causing others to sin with it. Does the person who took the idol have any reason to give it back to the one from whom he took it? No! On the contrary, he is probably not even allowed halachikly to return this idol to its former owner because doing so would be a violation of various transgressions, including laws about idol worship and Leviticus 19:14. So I decided not to give him back his blog totally, but I have rather decided to allow him to resume posting on his blog, but it will be under my own auspices. In doing so, I am assuming that Mr. Mis-nagid will not continue his idol worship of old, but will rather provide stimulating kosher information and discussions. So, he is not the owner of the blog, but he does retain some posting rights to the blog. Now presenting the return of Mis-Nagid.